I Fall Like the Leaves, and I Go With the Wind
by kissoftheblackrose
Summary: Of all the places, why the bathroom sink? How much damage can two 21-century teen brother and sister do to Narnia in the span of a few months? Plenty. For instance: oh I don't know... a war against the witches and wizards of the wastes? EdXOC LuXOC
1. Chapter 1

Hey! Well, this would be my third story on here that isn't a oneshot (and there's only one of those anyway) that I've submitted in the past... has it been two or three months... I don't know. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! I'd appreciate constructive critism on this as well if you don't mind. I wish to improve. And... that's it! Please read on! =)

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You know, of all the places to suck you into a different universe, you'd think the bathroom sink would be one of the least likely. Or at least I thought so. I mean really now! I'd probably look in the toilet first! What kind of nut job thought of the sink?! Then again, what do I know about cosmic transportation?

I guess by now you'd probably like to know who I am. My name is Reannon Pierce. Weird I know. However, my parents are history freaks, so they love finding old and weird names from mythology. Heck, my little brother's name is Loki, the Norse trickster god, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining. Mine at least means 'great queen' instead of a mythological deity.

Anyway, this story would probably be considered an acid trip, but I swear that I am not on any drugs! Now that that's cleared up, let's start off with the very morning of the day that this event occurred shall we?

I believe it was January 13 of 2010. That morning was a Wednesday and for the most part, it was a pretty normal day. Loki woke up late and somehow managed to slow time down enough to somehow get ready before I left without him. However I myself woke up early (because my alarm clock is a moron) and was watching TV by the time Loki ran down the stairs. We left on our normal schedule (which was still late) and made it to school about a minute before the bell rang for homeroom. Of course, I ended up driving Loki, who hadn't earned his permit yet (and to be honest I'm glad he hasn't), leaving me to listen to his insufferable snoring while he slept in the car.

After we made it to school, we carried on through our boring day without incident. No, the sink situation I mentioned earlier did not take place until that afternoon, at my grandparents' house. You see, it was my parents' 20th anniversary and of course we had to celebrate it. We were going to have a bigger party that weekend (you know with the whole china thing), but both sides of the family wanted to have a special dinner or something. (Which I predicted would consist of Wood Ranch that would be picked up by my own father as well as his dad.) So it was mostly just a regular family dinner. We sat around for a while waiting for my dad and grandpa to return with the food (of course I was right) talking and basically doing nothing. After the food got here and we were finished eating, Loki and I went to wash our hands in the bathroom.

We were at my mom's parents' place, and they happened to be the wealthier of the two families. I mean, their house was _really_ nice. It wasn't big or anything, in fact it was only one story, but with my grandma being an interior designer at one point, she made the place look probably more expensive than it truly was. Anyway, their bathroom had two sinks and of course everything went wrong.

The first weird sign we got was that as soon as we stepped into the room, we smelled salt water. Normally the place smelled like either lavender or vanilla but never the ocean. We only looked at each other to make sure we both smelled it. Ignoring the smell, we did what we were supposed to. Loki, however, was the first to make a comment on the draft he and I both felt. I, becoming very confused, soaked my finger under the faucet and held it up, trying to detect if a window was open. Then the weirdest thing happened. I felt the wind coming from the bathroom mirror!

"What the-" I blurted, disconcerted beyond all reason.

"What?" my brother asked, scrubbing soap across his hands.

"The wind's coming from the mirror!" I exclaimed. Loki just sort of looked at me with a weird expression. "What?" I asked annoyed, "You've got a better explanation?" He only cocked an eyebrow and continued scrubbing.

I rolled my grey eyes and picked up my own bar. Looking down at it, I watched as the third phenomenon occurred. It started changing colors. With a sharp intake of breath I stared at it. First, it was just plain white with no imprint or anything, but it slowly faded into pink, and finally into a royal crimson. An imprint formed in the fresh bar as well. It was a lion.

"Uh… Loki," I mumbled.

"Yeah?"

"Look at your soap," I answered turning to him. He cocked his head at me and raised an eyebrow. Once he realized that I was serious, he took his up again and examined it.

"Holy-!" he shouted in surprise and dropped the soap, backing a step away from it.

"What is it?" I asked anxiously.

"Uh… it's black," he stuttered. My grandma _hated_ the color black, and even if black soap existed (which I haven't seen yet so I don't know) she would never buy it. Ever.

"And is there an imprint or anything on it?" I inquired, still anxious.

"Yeah," he told me, staring at the soap that lay in the sink. "It's a… a lamp post?"

That would be the exact moment everything went wrong. While I moved to grab my brother's bar of cleansing material to see for myself, my right hand slipped into the sink. What was odd was that I couldn't take it out. Taking a step to Loki, I grunted at the yanking sensation in my arm and my legs gave out. Loki laughed at me as I half sat with a third of my arm in the basin and I glared at him.

"Put your hand into your sink then," I dared him. He shrugged and did as I told. My lips morphed into a smirk as I saw his eyes widen in surprise. It only grew as I observed him try to yank his arm from the sink and retain no success.

"Oh God," he muttered desperately.

"That's for laughing at me," I told him with a triumphant cackle.

"Does that _really_ matter to you that much right now?!" Loki asked stubbornly. After that I stayed silent.

Loki stubbornly continued pulling, but over time, I noticed that his arm was sinking even further. Too worried for my own skin, I looked up at my arm and realized that there was much less of it left that was not concealed within the drain than before.

I cursed and stood, trying for all I was worth to pull my arm free. Yet the more I pulled, the more I sank. Soon, I had to press against the counter with my left arm because only my shoulder was still free of my right. And by the way yes, it was very uncomfortable.

"Ack, this isn't helping!" Loki yelled. _Yeah no shit Sherlock_, I thought and looked over at him. His head looked like it was about to go in.

"Start screaming?" I suggested. We did just that, but no one came. As I said before, it wasn't a big house. So our family had no excuse to not have heard us, and yet no one showed.

Before I knew it I couldn't hear Loki's voice anymore. Glancing at him as best as I could (since half of my face was about to go under), I only saw the last of his skater shoes before he was completely gone. I gasped in what I assumed to be that last of my breath before going completely under.

But to my fortune, I did not die from being compressed into the sink's drain. To my _mis_fortune, my body was flipped, turned, curled, and rolled about in what I assumed to be water. I felt like a rag doll being tossed around by a couple of two year olds. In desperation, I fought to keep my mouth closed, so as to not waste what little air I had.

When the sensation died, I attempted to open my misty grey eyes. At first they were blurred, because as my assumption was correct, I was under water. After blinking a couple of times, my orbs adjusted to the distorted scenery a bit. Suddenly, I felt my back-side gently land on something. Looking down, I saw that it was sand. Hope filled me as I turned my gaze upward. There! Sunlight glinted off of the apparently shallow water, not four meters above.

I quickly pushed off the sand with my legs and began kicking to the surface. Only a scarce few feet I swam and I was choking out salt water into fresh air. Greedily, I sucked in the precious oxygen as I kicked to keep myself up. You have no idea how thankful I was to have my grandparents own a pool; otherwise I might not have learned to swim.

After getting a good supply of air in my lungs, I looked around to find the shore. The water wasn't very deep and I could feel waves rising up around me, so it had to be close. Sure enough, I could see a sandy beach about twenty feet away. Knowing that I _should_ kick off my convers while swimming, I didn't really want to lose my only pair of shoes that I had with me, so I just began swimming towards shore. Eventually I just let the current take over and I soon felt sand beneath my sodden feet.

I stood in the surf for a moment, breathing deeply. When I looked up I noticed a little to my left, Loki was wading through the water and onto the sand. He completely collapsed onto the dirt when he made it clear away from the waves. Sighing in exhaustion I followed him and sat about a foot away from his close-to-dead form.

We sat in peace for a minute before I started to complain.

"**What the friggin hell just happened**?!" I screamed to the heavens, standing up.

"We were sucked through the bathroom sinks at our grandma's house, and somehow managed to end up being transported through what I assume to be the sewage line, and ended up in the ocean," Loki answered, still lazing in the warm sand.

"Then where's the pipe that shot us out here genius?" I demanded my brother. He didn't answer. I roared in frustration and crashed back into the sand, ignoring my spine's protests. Loki finally opened his eyes to look behind us at the rocks.

Standing up, he observed the beach we ended up in. "Huh," he muttered. "This place doesn't look that bad."

I lifted my head and looked around myself. The ocean that had originally acted as a death trap now appeared peaceful and gorgeous. I'm talking, perfectly clear turquoise water. To my right was a cave carved out of rock and to my left was endless beach. For some reason the sun was right in the middle of the sky instead of already dark like when we left. Loki was right. This place looked amazing. But… my dripping t-shirt and jeans still had a say in my opinion.

Loki turned to look at the rocky wall that grew up from behind us and his frosty blue eyes went wide. "Well, would you look at that," he muttered. I sat up and turned. A quick intake of my breath sufficed my reaction in a gasp.

"Now who left the huge castle on the cliff?" I asked dumbly.

"We did."

I jerked my head to the right, and my jaw dropped. Standing right to the side of us, not six yards away, was a boy about my age, in the weirdest outfit I had ever seen outside of an anime convention. He was dressed in a green tunic that was belted at the waist. A grey cloak fell behind his shoulders and he had these brown pirate looking boots reaching up to his knees. His legs were clad in black breeches and hooked to the leather belt that I mentioned was a sword.

"Who are you?" the stranger asked, suspiciously.

"Um…" I stuttered, thinking of an answer. This guy didn't exactly seem very trustworthy. Not with the glare he gave us and the sword. Loki stayed silent and stared at the newcomer.

"If all you're willing to give me is your names, then so be it," the guy said again.

I rolled the suggestion over in my head. Giving him only my first name shouldn't be a problem. "My name's Reannon," I said finally.

"And I'm Loki," my brother told the boy.

"My name is Edmund," 'Edmund' answered, "and I think you better come with me."

"Uh… well that all kind of depends," I said, thinking it might be safer to learn a bit more about this guy first. Sure Loki and I were together, but if Edmund was dangerous and he had some buddies close by I didn't want to take the chance. "Are you going to help us?"

"I can't very well help you until I know what's going on," Edmund answered. _Damn him for being smart_, I thought.

"Are you coming or not?" weird Middle Ages dude asked, walking in the opposite direction. Loki gave me a questionable look.

"We don't really have a choice," I muttered and stood, wiping the sand off my still soaking clothes. My brother sighed and followed Edmund.

Nothing really happened for the next few minutes save for the three of us just walking along the beach. Loki was surprisingly the one to start up a conversation with the guy.

"So… what is this place called?" he asked.

"Narnia," Edmund answered simply and continued walking. I was too busy trying to keep my thick, copper hair from frizzing to help Loki out. (Hey! I don't like my hair when it's in a mess, and I didn't exactly bring a brush with me!)

"I've never heard of it…" Loki muttered. Apparently this Edmund guy had sharp ears, because he replied:

"I'm not surprised."

That was when I noticed the accent. "Hey, what's your accent?" I asked.

Edmund looked back at us and smirked. "English," he answered. Loki and I stopped.

"You're from the UK?" I questioned.

"Yes. Where are you two from?"

"Uh…" Loki looked at me to make sure I deemed it safe, and I nodded. "We're Americans," he told the Brit.

"Oh really?" Edmund actually sounded exited when Loki told him that. "Interesting."

"Um…" I began to make an effort this time, "how'd you get here?"

"We'll talk about it later," he answered. "First we need to get you some dry clothes." No one complained there. I could literally feel the water seeping out of my shoes when I stepped.

Edmund suddenly took a sharp turn to the Cliffside where I could now see a set of stone stairs carved into the rock. Glancing to the top of the mountain, I saw that they led right up to the castle. While we climbed the stairs (which were convenient but still really steep) I tried to get a better look at Edmund. By now, I was fairly sure that he wasn't going to hurt us, but he wasn't giving many answers. And the ones he did give only made us more confused.

Anyway, his hair was pretty much in the mess that Loki's was only it actually looked like he combed it that morning at least. It was a dark, chocolaty brown that almost looked black. He was about as tall as my brother only rising maybe about half an inch below his five foot nine inches. A medium build with broad shoulders pretty much described the rest I could see. His eyes were turned the other direction at the moment, but I recalled that they were a really dark brown and, like his hair, almost black. All in all, not that bad.

It took about five minutes to reach the top of the cliff with the stairs. When we did, I was stunned. I thought that the castle looked amazing beyond all words from about eighty feet below, now I could see that I was completely wrong. No, the place looked … how should I say it? Epically gorgeous? Yeah, I think that about sums it up.

We walked up into an orchard. Apple trees covered the grounds in what I assumed to be a garden, and for some strange reason, they were all in bloom. I looked around at some of the other plants. Cherry blossom trees sprouted along the fringes of a path that led to the right, and of course, they were blooming too. Flowers of every kind were growing in bushes and miniature fields were covered in them. Yet another path leading to my left had marble pillars with violet wisteria snaking around them. And every blade of grass that I could see was a perfect shade of emerald cleanly cut.

"Wow," I muttered, "who's your gardener?"

"I have no idea," Edmund answered with a shrug as he continued to walk, "Ask my sister when you meet her, she'd know."

"You have a sister?" Loki asked.

Edmund nodded, "Two actually, as well as an older brother. We all rule this place together."

"Huh," was the only reply. My few lessons on Medieval Times rung in my head in opposition to what the apparent royal just told us. However, I figured I'd ask about it later.

The strange boy led us through the garden at a swift pace. I could see that the marble walls were slowly growing larger as we neared them. Finally, with a swift turn to the right, we reached a door. The thing was not very large or grand. In fact it was pretty ordinary even by our twenty first century standards. Completely made out of wood and devoid of any embellishment save for the plain iron handle, the thing seemed sort of welcoming in its humbleness. (Believe it or not humbleness is a word.)

"Where does it go?" I asked, naturally curious.

Edmund, who was about to open the wooden slab, looked back at me and smiled, "Just to a hallway in the servants' quarters," he said, "I think I'll introduce you to the court when you're not soaking wet… Unless of course… you _want_ to be introduced to royalty in wet clothes."

My eyes widened in fear. "No-no!" I said quickly, "Let's go with your plan." Edmund laughed. Loki smirked at me and I glared at him.

When we stepped through the door, I almost fainted. I'm not normally one for architecture, but I'm fairly sure that this place earned the title of one of the architectural wonders of the world. Somewhere in between the first lighthouse and the Great Wall of China. Once again, the floors were made of pure white marble. The walls were of stone and tapestries hung all along the length of the hallway. Torches gave light to the room, as it was rather dark, given that it had no windows, but all the same, the place was very beautiful looking.

"This is the servants' quarters?" I asked in disbelief, wondering what the keep or whatever it's called looked like.

Edmund looked back at Loki, who was also staring, and I and asked, "Too much?" We both nodded, unable to find our voices. He shrugged. "The actual keep isn't much different, but we have windows and more light, as well as higher roofs," he told us, continuing walking.

As we wandered through passage after passage, the place never ceased to interest me. What was really surprising though was that there were no servants in their hallway. I didn't see a single soul walking around, and I was beginning to question Edmund's trustworthiness. He could be some sort of ghost of a long dead prince that thought he was still alive, or worse: was pretending to be alive so he could lead my brother and I into a horrible fate so we would spend eternity trapped on earth with him!

"Oh Sadie!" Edmund suddenly called. Never mind. Disregard everything I just said.

You see, apparently there were real servants. They all were probably busy about the actual castle doing something or other. However, after seeing this weird chick, I pretty much preferred the ghost story.

"Oh majesty!" 'Sadie', who was turned in the opposite direction with what looked to be a pitcher clutched in her hands, spun in surprise and addressed Edmund. She made her best attempt at a curtsy but with a heavy jug sitting in her arms, was having a rather difficult time with it. Edmund held up his hand though, signaling that she didn't need to use formalities. Sadie's shoulders relaxed and she asked, "What is it Edmund?"

"I need you to escort these two," he waved a hand in mine and Loki's direction, "to separate rooms please, and get them something clean to wear."

Sadie, who hadn't seen us before widened her eyes and stared at us. "How-?" she asked, but was cut off.

"We don't know yet," the young aristocrat answered, "but I intend to find out as soon as they're _not_ in drenched clothes." Sadie then noticed that we were soaking wet and dripping puddles onto the floor. She looked back at her employer and nodded. "Oh, and Sadie," he continued, "if you wouldn't mind, keep this as secret as you can. Only inform people you'll need for help. I'll go and tell Peter first, then Lucy and Susan. After they've met them, we'll tell everyone else. Understand?" The girl nodded again in understanding.

Edmund then turned to us again, and said his goodbyes. After, he left in the opposite direction we were originally going. I didn't really take into account what he was doing, however, because I was busy examining Sadie's legs. They were furry, and they had cloven hooves as the feet. She was half goat.

Sadie sighed once Edmund was out of hearing range and set her pitcher on top of a table that sat against the wall. Turning back to us she smiled. I'll admit, judging from her face, she was quite pretty looking. She had deep brown, short, curly hair and a spray of freckles danced across her petite nose. Her eyes were large and round with a chocolate color. Her smile seemed warm as well, and it almost distracted me from her goat legs.

Almost.

"Well since King Edmund has put you in my charge, I guess I'd better do what he says," she elaborated to us. "However, first, I'd like to know your names."

"Um…" I muttered, "my name's Reannon."

"And I'm Loki," my brother finally spoke. I looked up at his face and found him looking bewildered as well.

"Nice names," Sadie complimented. "Edmund is a good king, but he is rather forgetful of common courtesies sometimes."

"Such as mentioning that satyrs live here?" Loki blurted.

Sadie stared at him with wide eyes, but started laughing nearly a moment later. "Oh you're funny," she said through the laughs, "I'm no satyr. I'm a faun!"

"Is there a difference?" Loki asked again.

"Yes," the faun said, calming herself down. "However I can see how you'd make a mistake like that, given that you must be from another world, just as our kings and queens are."

"Wait a minute," I finally spoke, "another world?"

"Goodness, Edmund didn't tell you anything did he?" Sadie observed.

"Apparently," I muttered, legitimately ticked off.

Sadie sighed, but her smile returned quickly. "Well, when you meet the other three, they'll explain," she told us. "But for now, let's find you some rooms and a pair of clothes." Without wasting another second, she snatched our wrists and pulled us through the rest of the hallway.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys. Sorry about the long wait. =( I've kinda busy and haven't sat down to write for a while. At least this one was nearly done before today, so you didn't have to wait even longer. While you read this, if it's not too much trouble, could you please come up with advice for me. Not flames. Advice. I can't fix it if you don't tell me what's wrong and how to fix it.

Disclaimer: ... do I really need to say anything? -_- C.S. Lewis didn't live to see the 21st century. He would have no idea what Wood Ranch is. (P.S. I love their food, don't you?) I don't own Wood Ranch either. I'm asking for it as a stocking-stuffer for Christmas though. =)

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All right, I'm convinced. Edmund is a liar. Why is he a liar? Well let's start with how he lied about the keep not looking much different to the servants' quarters. First of all, yes the ceilings were gigantic. The entire place was made out of marble unlike the servants' quarters in which case it was only the floor. Gold lined the pillars that sprouted like trees throughout the place and atop each one had a sort of design carved at the top. (Sort of like how different Greeks would have different designs of pillars.) Tapestries with every color imaginable skillfully sewn into them were hung on the walls. Light gleamed through huge windows of either plain or stain glass. The entire place had a beautiful baroque style to it, like that of the Notre Dame in Paris.

Sadie led us through hall after hall. Mostly, she tried to keep us hidden. She took random passages that were deserted of people. Only once did she actually call out to someone. It, from what I could tell, was a male, and if I thought Sadie was odd to look at, I was clearly mistaken. This guy was huge. From the waist up, he was a man (and a very built man at that), but from the waist down, he was a Clydesdale.

By this point, I was beginning to question the health factor of Wood Ranch. I'm almost convinced they put something in the food.

"Jasper!" Sadie called.

'Jasper' turned our direction and jogged over… trotted over, I mean. "What do you need Sadie?" he asked in a deep voice, having not noticed us yet.

"I need you to help me," the faun whispered. Jasper cocked an eyebrow and looked behind his apparent friend. Copper eyes widened into the size of dinner plates upon noticing the two strangers.

"Sadie what have you-?"

He was cut off by Sadie's whisper. "I didn't do anything," she told him, "King Edmund found me and asked to take these two to rooms and give them fresh clothes."

"I presume he probably wanted you to bring them hot water as well?" Jasper added with a smirk.

Sadie returned it and said, "Well he didn't say specifically, but you know how Edmund is. For all I know, he wanted them to have complete wardrobes of their own done by the time the sun sets." Jasper chuckled and nodded.

"Alright, what do you need me to do?" he asked.

"I need you to bring the hot water to the two rooms in the back of the keep, the ones with the view of the ocean," Sadie elaborated. "Only get the people you need to help you, and make sure no one spreads it around the castle. King's orders. Understand?"

Jasper nodded and clopped away. Loki and I were left staring in astonishment after the strange beast. Finally Loki blurted, "That was a centaur."

Sadie turned back at us with a smile. "Yes," she said brightly, "you know of them?"

"Where we're from creatures like satyrs and centaurs only exist in books or games," he told her, coming out of his shock.

A small frown replaced Sadie's smile and she muttered, "Interesting." Then she grabbed our wrists again and took off.

We were exhausted by the time she stopped. Sadie wasn't exactly slow, and while I normally would appreciate her urgency, I sort of wanted the time to admire the building. However, I had to admit forgiveness when she opened the door to my borrowed room. The door itself was plain: just a wooden thing with a silver handle. (Only later did I notice that the silver was shaped into the form of a rose vine.) Yet, when it was pulled open, all I could do was stare. Sadie, realizing that I wasn't going in any time soon, just chuckled and opened Loki's own door, which was about a couple yards away from mine. Loki, being completely different from me, shouted at the top of his lungs,

"Aw sweet!" and went right in. Sadie had a look of satisfaction on her face, glad that she picked rooms that were to our tastes.

I finally took a step in to the glorious suite. If I was amazed by the rest of the castle, which was made for someone else, you have no idea how pleased I was with this setup. The place had a theme of the season fall (which happens to be my favorite season by the way) and leaves were intricately incorporated into every piece of furniture. My bed was king sized and it was laid against the far right wall. Crimson comforters covered the mattress, which I tested and found it to be extremely comfy. About a dozen pillows lined the oak headboard, and four stilts rose up from the corners into a canopy. Ruby sheets cascaded down from the wood frame and were pulled back by drawstrings to the pegs.

A wardrobe sat at the opposite end of the room. It, too, was made of dark wood, and intricately carved into the form of two trees at the sides. Their branches met at the top center and leaves were carved all the way down into the wood, giving the illusion that they were falling. The handles were in the shapes of leaves as well and were fashioned out of gold. A desk was on the left side of my bed, against the stone wall, and a small table was at the right. A bookshelf rose into the remaining wall next to the door. Two plush, scarlet chairs with gold embroidery worked into it in the form of delicate vines, were on the left wall with the wardrobe and facing each other.

A beautiful window let glorious light gleam through the perfectly clear glass. I couldn't detect a single bubble in it for my life! It had a radius style to it with three attached into one. The middle being the one that actually opened. A seat was incorporated into the dent that the window design made into the wall, which made it a perfect reading spot. Next to the window were a set of glass doors, leading to a balcony. As Sadie had said to Jasper before, it gave an amazing view of the garden, and after, the ocean.

Even the floor beneath my still-wet convers was beautiful. Of course, it was made of white marble (seemed to be a theme around here), but most of it was covered by an embroidered rug that was also burgundy and gold. I found another coffee table that sat nearby one of the chairs that was sporting a large candle-stick, as did the little one by my bed. A few candelabras decorated the walls as well as a beautifully illustrated painting of a pond with trees surrounding it in the state of fall. Finally, there was an enormous fireplace carved into stone right next to the doors to the balcony.

"I take it that you like the room," I heard Sadie's voice from the doorway. I looked back and smiled for probably the first time since I got here.

"No," I said, and her expression fell. "I love it."

The wide smile returned and Sadie stepped inside. She gestured toward a door that stood closed right next to the wardrobe. I followed her as she opened it and found myself gasping again. Sadie showed me my own personal bathroom.

True to the theme of the entire castle, the entire thing was marble. A glorious mirror rose up to my left (which I did not look in, wary that the current state of my appearance would ruin the moment) and to my right, the smooth slabs of rock were formed into a bathtub. Below the mirror, was a wooden table topped off with its own rectangular marble wedge which in turn had a shining, bronze basin on top. Crimson towels were hung onto a rack next to the tub. At the end of the smaller room, was what looked to be a toilet. By God, they actually had running water here! What really confused me, was that the tub had no faucet, and I didn't see a sink anywhere.

"Uh, where's the faucet?" I asked Sadie, who was chatting about how she'll grab a brush and make up and things for me later. She looked back at me with a cocked eyebrow.

"Don't you have running water here?" I elaborated, gesturing to the toilet.

A look of understanding enveloped Sadie's facial features and she smiled. "Well, we don't have water coming out of tubes for the bath such as the kings and queens speak of, if that's what you mean."

"Yeah, that's exactly what I mean," I told her.

She shrugged. "The toilet over there deposits whatever goes in it through a system of tubes to the ocean. I'm not quite sure how it works, and frankly, I don't really care enough to find out."

I thought this over and let it go. Truthfully, I didn't care for plumbing much myself, so I figured I'd let whoever had to deal with it, deal with it. That was when we heard a knock at the door.

"That must be Jasper with the water," Sadie assumed and went to get it. I simply waited for her to return and examined the bathroom.

"Alright Reannon," the faun said to me walking back in, "if you'll please move, these ladies will do their job."

I did as I was told and walked back into the bedroom. About three tiny looking women came through the door, carrying buckets filled with steaming water. A fourth walked in last, holding what I assumed to be a bar of soap and crystalline bottles of stuff for my hair. Only about five minutes went by and the… midgets should I call them? Well, the smaller looking women cleared out with only a couple of smiles and nods towards me and left.

"Uh…" I mumbled, "What were they?"

Sadie looked at me surprised. "Why, they're dwarves, Reannon."

"Oh."

After that clever comment, Sadie directed me as to which bottle held what for my hair. The blue, tall one being the shampoo, and the red, round one being conditioner. I figured I'd ask for a razor later. Seeing as I took a shower that morning and didn't really need it. Sadie left me to the hot water in search for some clothes.

The water was lovely when I stepped into it, and I carried on with my business with nothing to interrupt it. At one point, I heard the door opening to my bedroom then closing again, but I assumed it was Sadie with whatever clothes she brought me. By the time I was done, I wrapped myself in the towel and peaked into my room. No one was left, so I strode to the bed and found a dress sitting on the comforter.

I sneered at the thing. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful, with a flowing skirt that gracefully pooled to the floor, and a scoop neckline that managed to remain modest, but here's the thing: I hate wearing dresses. It is not like I have a huge thing against them for no reason; I just do not feel comfortable in them. With a sigh, I decided that I had no other choice but to inform Sadie later (along with the inquiry to a razor) and I picked up the dress.

To tell the truth, after I was done, I decided that it wasn't so bad. I mean, the fabric was a deep forest green that, as I said, had a modest, scoop neckline with gold embroidery. A gold belt tied it at the waist and the skirt smoothly swept to the floor. Its sleeves were long and they hugged at my arms nicely. All in all, it was plain, but I liked it because of that. Of course, it was a little big on me, but only a little. I decided to commend Sadie later for guessing really close to my size.

Finally, I realized a problem. I had no shoes… well, I did have my convers still sitting in the bathroom along with my soaked clothes (which I realized that I should've left in the bedroom so Sadie could've taken them to be washed), but no way was I putting those back on again. With a sigh, I opened the door from the bathroom in attempt to search for shoes, just in case I missed them the first time. I was crawling on the floor by the time I actually spotted something.

"Aha!" I shouted triumphantly. Underneath the bed and skillfully hidden, were chocolate colored boots that I assumed would reach my knees. Snatching them from under the bed-frame, I yanked them on my feet regardless of my lack of socks. Much to my non-surprise, I was right in my assumption and the edges clung to my knees with the edges rolled over into… well… pirate boots I guess… Well I thought they were cool.

Anyway! I decided that since Loki should be done with his bath, I'd go and check on him. Besides, I had no idea where anything was, and no one gave me any direction to wait. So I decided to bide my time with what I could do until someone came and got us. That… and I wanted to see Loki's room. If it was enough to make him exited, it must've been really nice looking.

I approached the door a few yards to the right of mine and knocked firmly on the wood. His, I found, was also plain wood like mine, but the handle was in the shape of a wave of the ocean made of silver.

"Come in," I heard him from the inside. Ignoring the fact that he sounded like he was about to fall asleep, I pushed the door and found myself in yet another beautiful room.

"Dang," I muttered.

"Nice ain't it?" Loki commented, sitting on his royal blue, king sized bed to my left.

All in all, the room was sort of an opposite from mine. For one, like I said, the bed was to the left of the door, and was not a canopy. Instead, it looked to be exceedingly fluffy, and was covered with a blue blanket. At the headboard, which looked to be the same type of wood as my own, pillows of blues, greens, and silvers looked to be once neatly stacked against it. (Courtesy of him being a lazy bum and knocking them all off.) To the left of it, a glass coffee table sat next to it with a candleholder made of some kind of obsidian metal resting on it. Several candelabra of the same kind hung about the room much like mine. To the other side of the bed, a chair was placed which was also a royal blue with silver embroidery worked into it.

Right next to the chair was a glass door, leading out to Loki's own balcony. I could tell that the terrace was larger than my own, but I had a feeling that it was due to the fact that his room lacked the spiffy window that mine had. To the right of the window, instead, hung a huge paining of a group of fauns dancing in the circle on a winter night that was set into a silver frame. After that, in the top right corner, was a huge table that sat low to the ground but was surrounded by pillows, so I assumed that you were supposed to sit on the floor (which was still white marble by the way.) Of course right behind it was a fireplace, which was not lit at the moment, and to the right again was the door to Loki's own bathroom.

Finally, in the bottom right corner, a dark wood armoire was shoved. It didn't have my tree design, but it did have carvings of the ocean in it. Right next to it a large, plush, indigo couch was set up with yet another coffee table resting next to it. A chair was also placed beneath the painting I mentioned before.

This room had a beautiful theme of the ocean and the night. As much as I preferred my own room, I knew Loki loved this one.

"Dude," I said back to him. "This is awesome."

Loki sat up and smiled. "The only problem is that I think I need to fill it with something else."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll mess it up enough later by throwing your clothes all over the place," I smirked.

"Shut up."

I gazed at the setup my brother was given and had to agree somewhat. The room was rather large and there wasn't much that filled in the blank stone floor. Mine at least had a bookshelf and a desk, but Loki's seemed to be more centered on relaxation than preoccupation… which in itself was still perfect for my brother's personality. "Maybe you can ask them to bring in a piano," I suggested.

Loki thought about it for a minute and shrugged. "Depends on how long we have to stay here," he said.

A knocking sound echoed throughout the room, and I opened the door. Thinking that it would be Sadie or Jasper or something, I was surprised to find King Edmund waiting outside the door. I cocked an eyebrow. Honestly, I would've thought that kings had more important business than two kids mooching off of your generosity and general confusion.

"I knocked on the other door, and didn't find you in there," he told us unnecessarily and stepped into the borrowed room. I stepped away and stood next to my brother's bed.

"You talk to your siblings yet?" I asked, in a sort of… frustrated manner. Don't ask, I don't have any idea why. Personally I think it was because he avoided telling us hardly anything helpful or mentioning that mythological creatures lived here.

"I did," Edmund answered, examining the room with a satisfied smile. "Peter, my brother, told me to come get you for dinner, so they could talk to you personally."

"Great!" Loki exclaimed and leapt off the bed. "I'm starving!" That would be the first time I noticed he was wearing a light blue tunic with a black leather belt, black breeches, and (pick a color between blue and black) black boots. (If you picked black, you won! What do you win? Cyber cookies! Congratulations!) He kinda looked better than normal. I mean, his dripping blonde mop of hair was still a mess (and I didn't doubt that mine wasn't as well) but at least he didn't have it sticking in directions that the laws of gravity quite frankly should've prevented. (He's played Final Fantasy so many times that he his hair has automatically set itself to look like that of the characters. Loki honestly does not even understand how it does it either.)

"Good," Edmund said and looked at the two of us. "I trust that they gave you hot water then?"

"Yup," I answered, happily, and added out of common courtesy, "Thank you by the way."

He looked at me as if I had grown another head. It seemed as if he wasn't used to being thanked. I cocked an eyebrow at him and glanced at Loki. He was lost in his excitement for food. With a roll of my misty eyes, I looked back to the aristocrat, who was shaking his head and making his way out the door.

I followed him with Loki closely behind. No one said anything to the other. For some reason, it was a tad awkward. Edmund didn't seem to be the talking type, and I was almost sick of hearing Loki's voice. That and it was a challenge for me to keep up with the taller guys. It's not like I'm really short, my height reached up to about five foot six, but these two… well they were almost six feet.

At last we reached the end of a hallway. It was barred off with gigantic, wood doors that were intricately carved with strange designs, and the handles were made of pure gold with a gold knocker held in the mouth of a lion. I stared at it in awe and I heard Loki whistle from next to me. Edmund, however, ignored our amazement and continued through the doors normally.

My brother and I snapped out of our trance and entered through the door that Edmund did _not_ hold open for us. I will admit it though, when I saw the room, I nearly cried.

So many books all concentrated in one place! The ceiling was at least thirty feet tall and from crimson carpeted floor to gold leaf embellished ceiling, rows and rows of leather bound tomes that looked to cost at least a hundred dollars each at a cheap _Ebay_ price lined dark wood shelves. Spiffy ladders that could slide along on runners were extended up to the roof to reach even the top shelf of books. Did I mention that when I wanted my own house that I would put however much money it took to get a room like this in? Particularly with the ladders?

Loki, of course, did not pay any attention to this, and just stared at the four people that sat at a table at the corner of the room next to a window. When I finally noticed them, I immediately felt the need to bow or curtsey or something.

Edmund was pulling a seat out for himself in front of a plate that had yet to be filled with the meat, fruit, and vegetables that littered the center of the table. A girl sat next to him on his left that looked to be around Loki's age. She wore a bright smile and did not seem to notice us two newcomers. To Edmund's right was another girl older than me who, honestly, made me want to ask who did her hair/ makeup/ where she got her clothes. Although she did notice that we were there, she looked to be too far into whatever moment the group had to inform the others. Finally, at the opposite end of the table, facing us, yet somehow ignorant of our presence was a boy/ man/ ….let's go with dude who's smile that could outshine the very clean marble floor in whiteness. (Somehow that sounded like an insult.) He had sandy blond hair in contrast to the other three's dark chocolate locks. However, from what I could see, all four had the same icy blue eyes (except for Edmund, with his dark ones).

My brother and I sort of had the same mentality in realizing that these were important people, despite their age. As a result, we just stood there feeling awkward until Edmund thought it convenient to introduce us…

I realized that we would be standing there for a while if we waited for that.

"Um," I spoke up finally, since I knew Loki was not planning on doing anything either, even if he was more talkative than me.

The four finally turned to look at us and the eldest boy stood. "Oh, forgive us," he said in a British accent, much like Edmund's. "We didn't notice you." After saying this, he walked over to my brother and me and held out a hand. "My name's Peter, I'm Edmund's brother as well as the eldest. Edmund already told us your names." I shook his hand first, then Loki, both of us relieved that we did not have to bow or curtsey or anything.

The eldest girl there also stood. Man, I wanted her hair. She too, held out a hand and I shook. "I'm Susan, the second oldest," she said. I looked over at Loki, who I was surprised to find was blushing. It took a great effort not to snigger.

Finally, the youngest girl, the one who looked to be Loki's age, stood and bounced over. "I'm Lucy, the youngest," she said and shook my hand. I could not but help smile at her enthusiasm. She then went over to Loki who smiled as well.

"Edmund told us that you two came out of the ocean and looked to be really confused when he found you. He also mentioned that you were wearing strange clothes," Peter said looking at us with curiosity. "How exactly did you get here?"

"Um…" I muttered dumbly, "the sink turned into a black hole." The four just stared at me with bewilderment inscribed onto their faces.

"Could you give us a better explanation?" Edmund asked.

"Well, how detailed do you want?" I asked.

"Just tell us where you're from, how old you are and the like. Then explain your day before coming here," Lucy answered. Only later did I realize that giving where we were from might not have been a good idea, but Lucy just seemed so sweet that I could not have possibly suspected her to mean any harm.

"Well…" I hesitated, wondering where to begin, "Our last name is Pierce. We're from a small town in Oregon. I'm seventeen and Loki is fifteen-"

"Almost sixteen," Loki added. I rolled my eyes and continued.

"The day was a pretty normal one really," I explained while scratching the back of my head, "Loki woke up late and I drove him to school-"

"You can drive?" Peter asked. I nodded slowly, wondering why he found this odd.

"Yes, and we went through school as we normally did."

"How did you get here?" Susan wondered.

"I'm getting there," I snapped. Sorry, I hate being interrupted. "It was our parents' anniversary, and we went to celebrate it at our grandparents' house. We were there for a couple of hours and ate dinner. After we were done, Loki and I went to wash our hands. There was a bathroom in the house with two sinks and we were using the same one. Then… what happened?" I asked, tired of explaining and could not quite remember what happened in order very well. Being transported to another world takes a lot out of you apparently.

"We smelled the ocean," Loki continued for me. "We kind of passed it off as nothing first. Then we felt a draft coming from somewhere. Reannon found that it was coming from the mirror. Come to think of it, we never _did_ find out why it came from there." Loki stopped, lost in thought.

"Continue," Lucy encouraged and Loki shook his head and did so.

"We washed our hands and then Reannon asked me to look at my soap for some reason," he said. I rolled my eyes.

"When I looked at my own bar of soap, which was originally white, it changed colors, from white to red," I explained, "an imprint sort of formed out of nowhere too. It was a lion rampant." The four siblings looked at each other and smiled, as if they knew some secret that we did not.

"Anyway," Loki went on, "I did as she asked and found my soap black, when before, as she said, it was just plain white with no imprint. But when I looked at it, there was an imprint of a lamppost." All four looked to be bursting with excitement at the mention of a lamppost.

"Um… after that, I think Reannon tried to see the soap for herself and… she slipped," Loki started rubbing his forehead. "Her hand fell in the sink, and she couldn't pull it back out. So…uh…"

"You started laughing and I told you to try putting your own hand into your sink, you did, and you couldn't get it out either," I said for him.

"Right. And then we noticed that our arms were being pulled farther into the drain. We still couldn't free ourselves and started calling for help. No one came though."

"When we were fully submerged, we flipped around in water for a bit and came out into the ocean, here," I finished.

"And that's where Edmund found you?" Susan asked. We nodded.

"Interesting," Edmund muttered to himself, still sitting in his seat.

"Well, we can answer why your soap had a lion and a lamppost on it," Peter smiled.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes," the blonde turned and pointed to a tapestry that I had not noticed before. I gasped at what I saw. Woven into the tapestry, was a red lion rampant. My mouth gaped and Loki stared, wide eyed.

"What does it mean?" I asked. Lucy looked at me and smiled.

"I think we should tell you our story now," she said.

"But you two must be hungry," Susan interjected. "Won't you sit with us?" she asked, gesturing to the table.

"Well we already-"

"Yeah, thanks!" Loki interrupted me. I swear, the kid's stomach was replaced with a bottomless pit.

"Well then sit," Susan smiled, and we all found a seat at the table. Since the four ended up moving where they originally sat, the only seats left were next to Peter and Edmund. Loki, no doubt wanting to piss me off, took the one next to Peter. (He could probably tell that Edmund and I were not going to get along.)

Well… he was right.

* * *

Sorry this took so long. Truth be told, when I looked over it today, I only added the last two lines. So this was potentially finished for a couple of months. Sorry guys. =(

By the way, I'm sort of worried that these characters might become too cliche. Yes, I've given them flaws and all (You can probably see them quite easily actually, and if you can't, message me and I'll tell you. Or I can just make it a little more evident.) but that doesn't quite prevent them from becoming Mary Sue/Gary Stue-ish (Their names are already pretty Mary Sue like, but since those of you who've reviewed [thanks a ton **magyka95**, **AllStrangeWonders93, **and **Don-Jam** for those reviews by the way. And for all of the people who alerted this story] said that you liked them, I won't change them.) But I'll still take criticism or advice, if you can give it. I am a little worried that I was too wordy with this one. Like maybe I spent too much time describing the rooms instead of developing the characters. My style might need improvement also. (And the thing with the dress, I will refrain from mentioning that too much later. It's just something she doesn't like. So I won't waste your time with that.)

And just in case you're wondering, no, I did not get the name Jasper from Twilight. I only realized after I wrote the scene with the centaur that Jasper was one of the vampires. I like the name and didn't want to change it when I found out. (Just wanted to get that across for some reason. Maybe because I can't stand Twilight, but whatever.)

I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner, but I make no promises. Have a lovely day. =) (Sorry if it's too long too.)


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